Ahascragh-Caltra 0-11

Oran 1- 5

By Mike Rafferty in Fohenagh

THE Sportsfield in Fohenagh was crowded on Saturday afternoon to witness Ahascragh-Caltra secure their first provincial title since 2008 when they were crowned Connacht Intermediate camogie champions and, in the process, collected the Fr Vincent Lawless Cup.

It was a real battle against the Roscommon visitors and the Annaghdown victory was inspired by the outstanding Sarah Noone. Now Noone has played on bigger stages and in bigger finals, but this was an occasion when she was very much to the fore in her own territory as her side came from behind to power away to an impressive victory.

While the sides traded scores in a pretty balanced opening quarter, it was the home outfit, mainly through the free taking of Aoibhe Glynn who gave themselves a margin of comfort as the contest entered the closing stages of the opening half.

However, an Andrea Fallon goal was to change the course of events and allowed the sides to go in level at the break. Oran were certainly wound up on the resumption and actually took the lead for the first time.

It wasn’t an advantage that was to last long as the home side gradually got on top and five scores in succession by Sarah Noone eased them four points clear and while Oran got the last score of the day, they never really threatened a comeback as Ahascragh-Caltra comfortably held onto a three point winning margin.

The early part of the contest didn’t throw any great light on how the final would unfold as both teams chased everything, while nobody had any time on the ball as close marking was the order of the day.

It was Ahascragh-Caltra who opened the scoring account when Aoibhe Glynn slotted over an early free and they had other opportunities to extend that lead, but Caoimhe NI Cheallaigh and Glynn both left shots short of the target, while Aoibheann Fitzpatrick was wide with an effort.

Oran were getting little opportunity in attack as opposition defenders Denise Kelly, Helen Cullinane and Lauren Glynn kept a tight reign at the back, before the impressive Hazel Kelly slotted over their opening score from a free. Glynn and Kelly were to exchange further placed balls as matters were level at the end of the opening quarter.

Ahascragh-Caltra then hit a productive spell with three points in a matter of minutes. Ciara Murray smashed over their only score of the half from play, before Glynn converted a free and a ‘45 to give them a 0-5 to 0-2 advantage after 23 minutes. That lead was quickly wiped out when Oran’s Andrea Fallon fired in a long range effort that dropped just under the crossbar to level matters at 0-5 to 1-2 at the break.

Pictured: Ahascragh-Caltra’s attacker Aoibhe Glynn secures possession ahead of Oran’s wing back Taylor Kelly.